The First Week of October (aka, the first full week of school)

Finally, a full week of school. We've been working so hard to develop routines and help children get used to the structure and flow of our schedule, but it's almost impossible with all of the interruptions. So, while the ancient rabbis referred to this Hebrew month as "bitter Cheshvan" (mar Cheshvan) because of the absence of any holidays, Andrea and I are grateful that this weekend's new moon signified the start of Cheshvan.

We began a new unit in Writing Workshop, called "small moments."In this unit, children continue to write personal narrative, but begin to develop an awareness of their audience. Which small part of this story is the most interesting? How do I zoom in on this part and stretch it out over at least three pages? Other mini-lessons focus on using more writing in our stories, adding details, and choosing topics. More children have had the opportunity to do an "author share", when children sit in the author' chair and share a completed story with the class. In language arts we've also been working on generating rhymes and counting syllables in words. Next week we will begin a genre study of alphabet books, and each child will make his/her own alphabet book. If you have any alphabet books you would be willing to loan to the class for the next few weeks, we'd love to put them on our shelves for browsing.

In Hebrew, we've been playing games that focus on counting to ten and learning the names of colors. We've been building towers out of colored blocks and designing patterns, all the while describing what we are doing in Hebrew. Currently, my goal for children is to feel comfortable in a Hebrew immersion environment during our lesson, and demonstrate comprehension with a gesture or action. I also ask kids to begin to speak in one word sentences (such as a yes, a no, or naming a color or counting the number of blocks.)

For those of you who are not Hebrew speakers, here are some videos to introduce you to some of the vocabulary we are working on. Please don't use these to test your child, ("how do you say 'three?'") but feel free to watch them with your child. We have introduced the numbers 1-10, and some, not all of the colors in the video.

Other highlights of the week included a study of the story of creation. We listened to the story two days in a row - the first day I told the story using techniques drawn from Godly Play, a Montessori-based approach to Bible Study which is currently being adapted for use in Jewish schools, and the second day reading the words of the Torah translated into English. Children talked about things they wondered, and also drew one (or more) scenes from the story for the Torah scroll they will create this year.

On Friday, we visited Tal's apartment for a Chanukat Habayit, dedicating his home with a mezuzah on the door. This was a nice opportunity to share with the children that anyone can be a "real"author - and I read to them from my first book, A Mezuzah on the Door. I also shared my collection of mezuzah cases, scrolls and materials used to make a mezuzah. Thanks so much to Tal's family for inviting us to take part in this special occasion.

With the first full Friday, we also had a chance to begin buddy time, when children spend time with a sixth grade partner. This week we did a get to know you activity, and then launched into reading buddies in the school library. I think you can see how successful this was!

We ended the week very, very tired, and ready for the restfulness of shabbat. We welcomed shabbat at an all-school gathering, a monthly event that typically precedes Rosh Chodesh, the new Hebrew month. The dates for all school shabbat gatherings are on the LGA calendar - parents are always welcome to join us.

Andrea, who takes the lead in our math instruction, will update you with a separate post later this week. Today she is celebrating the bat-mitzvah of her oldest daughter. Mazal Tov, Morah Andrea!

Next week, we will welcome Sarah Pease, the program director of the Northampton Survival Center, who will tell us about their important work, and give us a tour of our next-door nieghbor. This will launch our year-long tzedakah project.

Thanks to those of you who have already signed up on the googledoc set up by our class parents to shop for challah ingredients. We'll begin baking this week.

See you tomorrow!